Tuesday, January 23, 2007

William L. Anderson:The Cost of the Lie: Duke, the Courts, and Hoaxes — I recently received an email from someone who was a member of last year’s lacrosse team at Duke University, a young man who has had to watch the travesty suck three of his teammates and friends into North Carolina’s maw of injustice. What he said in the email made my jaw drop, and this is a case which has hardened my jaw line more than any other.

His email said that so far, the estimated cost of defense to the three families is exceeding five million dollars. That is correct. Three families are having to shell out five million dollars in total to deal with the lies perpetuated by the State of North Carolina.

No doubt, many readers will not care at all. Two of the three families are wealthy, and the other is well-off, although the third family is having some difficulty paying the legal bills, from what I hear. I already have heard a number of black commentators and assorted leftists declaring that they see nothing wrong in having to force wealthy whites to pay millions of dollars to protect their sons against wrongful prosecutions....

Bill O'Reilly, The O'Reilly Factor:Fairness and Justice at Duke (with video) — Shortly after the three Duke lacrosse players were charged with rape last spring 88 Duke professors signed an ad that said in part, "This is a social disaster.no one is really talking about how to keep the young woman herself central to this conversation.Regardless of the results of the police investigation, what is apparent everyday now is the anger and fear of many students who know themselves to be objects of racism and sexism."

Talk about a rush to judgment. There's now strong evidence the accuser in the case fabricated at least part of the story and charges of racism and sexism could be completely bogus. So we called most of the professors who signed that ad, wanting to talk to them about it. No one would step up. They all ran away. So "Factor" producer Jesse Watters went to them...

While we were down in North Carolina, we did decide to stop in on D.A. Mike Nifong -- now off the case. He wasn't happy to see us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)WATTERS: Can you tell if you feel bad about prosecuting these players? Will you come on "The O'Reilly Factor?"

Hopefully, there will be no courtroom for Nifong to inhabit. Hopefully, the North Carolina attorney general will drop the case and Nifong will resign. Because that would be justice. And Duke needs all the justice it can get. And that's "The Memo."

discussion:LieStopper forum: O'Reilly Confronts Nifong, Some Of 88 Gang! — O'Reilly: "Brodhead is a coward!"....Bill O'Reilly was just on Greta's show to hype the repeat of his show at 11 pm EST. He chuckled as he said that they ambushed Nifong and caught him "in his jammies."...

Joan Collins, Friends of Duke University:Profiles in Courage - The Other Duke Lacrosse Moms — When the hoax was born, the “eclipse of justice” cast a wide shadow enveloping all the families of the 47 players of the Men’s 2006 Duke Lacrosse Team. People deal with difficult situations very differently, some privately and others more publicly. Whatever way they choose to deal with their pain should be respected. This article is based on conversations with five courageous mothers willing to share how the hoax has affected them and their families. At the onset, all made it very clear that their pain pales in comparison to that which the Finnerty, Seligmann and Evans families have experienced and continue to endure. None of them were looking for attention. Quite the opposite, they want their private lives back. However, all thought it important for people to recognize that so many families have been devastated by the hoax. The five resolute mothers are Gale Catalino, Barbara Loftus, Sherri McFadyen, Susan Wolcott and Nina Zash. Here is a sample of their stories....

related:John in Carolina: With These Lax Moms “Faith, Hope, Love Remain” - “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." - Paul - First Corinthians: Chap. 13 ... How have the families of the Duke Men's 2006 lacrosse team managed since last March when a reckless rogue prosecutor and certain police officers, enabled by many in media and at Duke University, launched a witch hunt that's inflicted monumental injustices on so many innocent people?

John Stevenson,Herald-Sun The Organ:State Bar grants Nifong extension to respond — District Attorney Mike Nifong has obtained a reprieve on filing a response to N.C. State Bar allegations that he violated four ethical rules in his handling of the Duke lacrosse sex-offense case, including a rule that prohibits "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" by lawyers. Nifong originally was required to answer the complaint within 20 days of the date it was served, Jan. 3. But his response apparently won't be submitted today.

David Freedman of Winston-Salem, Nifong's lawyer, said Monday an extension of time has been granted. He said he didn't have the new deadline at his fingertips.

Andrew Swerlick, editorial, EmmoryWheel.com (Emmory Univ., Atlanta):Discontent in Durham — The real victim in the Duke Lacrosse scandal? Forget the players or the dancer. It's the judicial system. - The city of Durham is 44 percent black and has a poverty level that surpasses the national average. As Salon.com put it, "The median income of a Durham household is roughly equal to the annual tuition for a Duke student (about $44,000)." Tensions between the wealthy, mainly white, university students and the town's working-class residents have always been a problem...

The question of individual justice is lost in the fiery discussions of race and class relations. Luckily, however, as more and more evidence suggesting the innocence of the lacrosse players comes forth, emotions are taking a back seat to a rational examination of the facts. If things continue the way they are, justice has a good chance of being served. But although this case may ultimately have a just ending, the accused are not always so fortunate. As Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal discussed in her editorial "The Michael Nifong Scandal" last week, the Duke case is very similar to many child molestation cases of the late 80s and early 90s. Here again, the cases took on greater meaning, becoming symbolic of the fear that we could no long protect our society's children. The accused were not men and women to be found innocent or guilty, but scapegoats on which we could pin our fears and guilt. Some of these scapegoats still suffer for the crimes they never committed...

How ironic that the editors quote approvingly those from the CNN forum who want to "move on" in the Duke lacrosse case. Mike Nifong, acting almost single-handedly, created this embarrassment for Durham, and The Herald-Sun became his co-conspirator, fanning the flames of the current unpleasantness.

By supporting him while he moved forward with these baseless charges, The Herald-Sun not only abdicated the duty of the press to speak truth to power, it helped Nifong give Durham its current reputation. Are you suggesting you are actually surprised that Durham now finds itself where it is? Will you make this mistake again?

Steve "lying loser" Monks, Durham, DA election plan?

North Carolinians, Durhamites, wake up! The Republican Party recently took a big hit nationally and perhaps deservedly so. On our watch we got involved in a troublesome war and were beset with scandals. We lost credibility and many people lost faith...

The district attorney debacle further evidences this complete lack of accountability. Why wouldn't the Democratic DA believe they were untouchable in Durham? These problems occurred while the Democrats were in contol. I ran for DA against Mike Nifong because I believed it was the only way to wrest away the corrupting power of the absolute power-hold that Democrats have in our community.

A Democratic political appointee would not do that. The Democrats were scared of losing power to a "clean-house" Republican and so the power-hungry Democrats came up with a plan to ensure that a Republican would not serve. Ironically, it appears now that Nifong's victory at the polls may, in fact, be his undoing. We need a change. Just think before you pull that straight Democratic lever next time.

The writer is chair of the Durham County Republican Party.

Craig Hunter,Greensboro: Kudos to K.C. Johnson

I'm afraid Orrin Starn [Forum, Jan. 17] picked on the wrong blogger when he showed us one of "many" gaffes the bad K.C. Johnson supposedly published. The African-American Studies Web site lists 14 professors, assistant professors and associate professors. Let's get Starn to list a few more of Johnson's mistakes and one-sided "stories." Starn's example was silly and irrelevant. Loved the KC and the Sunshine Band reference, though.

Johnson has apparently exposed too many weaknesses involving the non-rape case. His common sense is a little too extaordinary for the Group of 88 to stomach as well. It is only natural that Starn would try to discredit Johnson. Starn should try separating the wheat from the chaff. I can do it with a high school education. But since you want to play silly with us, Johnson is the wheat. The chaff are the uneducated racists who email Group of 88 members with the uncalled-for or ugly diatribes. Or the almost-but-not-quite racist Group of 88.

Graham Hayes Marlette, Durham: The sensitive professor

How sad that Professor Orin Starn has been subjected to name-calling on the Internet [Herald-Sun, Forum, Jan. 17]. One blogger even referred to him as a terminal part of the anatomy. Ouch. Professor Starn is equally sensitive to others involved in the Duke lacrosse case who have been called names. The accuser, who was found to have the semen of four different men in her bodily cavities, was actually said to be a "whore" by one blogger.

Of course, it would be easier to engender Starn-style sympathy for the accuser if she had not tried to destroy the lives of three men she falsely accused of rape, kidnapping, and sodomy. Nor would bloggers and others who have followed this case be so inclined to denigrate Starn and his colleagues had they not so publicly assumed their own students to be guilty of a crime which anyone with a grade school education could tell never happened.

The sexual assault charges relate to the claims of four women who worked for Katsav during his terms as president and before that as a cabinet minister.

Katsav's attorney, David Libai, told reporters Tuesday that the president would fulfill his promise to the High Court of Justice and suspend himself until Mazuz issued a final decision on the matter...

KC Johnson:The Insights of Georgia Goslee — During her three-month run as a commentator, Goslee distinguished herself for making transparently absurd comments on the law...

LieStoppers:Duke Professor Speaks Out:A Different Perspective, Anonymous Post on Durham-in-Wonderland — I am a professor at Duke. I was in the closed door meeting with President Broadhead and Provost Lange. I am thus an eyewitness to the fact that 1, 2 and 3 in the 1:59pm post have already happened. And yes, concerns were expressed by some writers/signers of the statements of 88/87 about potential pressure by the trustees on the administrators to take action harmful to their careers due to the activities of blogs like this one. So, to the extent that you wish to upset that particular group you have succeeded. I hope, however, that this is not the only purpose of this blog. There are greater issues at stake and Duke is definitely much more than the 88/87....

John in Carolina:Chronicle’s Brodhead interview: My take — Reporter Rob Copeland asked some tough, informed questions, but Brodhead avoided answering them, and Copeland didn’t press with follow-ups....Brodhead may not be immune to self-criticism but I sure couldn’t find what I thought was genuine and serious self-criticism in any of his responses ...

Mike McCusker, Crystal Mess blog:"Characterized By Timidity" [Letter to Richard Brodhead] — There are so many aspects of the "case" which have smelled badly for so long that it is incredible to me that you have waited for such a painfully long time to attempt to salvage something of your tattered reputation by offering to readmit two of the students and by appearing on 60 Minutes. You have willingly participated in a sequence of events which has caused great harm to the players and their families, a wonderful coach, a great team, and a great university. You tolerated outrageous comments by Houston Baker and others, and you did nothing to stop or tone down the 'lynch mob' behavior of so many students who had, like you and more than 80 professors, prejudged the players' guilt. In addition, you totally ignored the reputation, past record, and verbal contradictions of the 'victim' and the abhorrent and illegal actions of a rogue district attorney whose conduct had indicated very early that there was significant doubt about the guilt of the accused and if a crime had even been committed....

duke.edu:Duke Law Program Presents 'Trying Cases in the Media: The Role of Prosecutor and the Press' — The role of the prosecutor and the media in high-profile criminal cases will be explored in a lunchtime panel discussion at Duke Law School on Thursday, Jan. 25....Those participating in the panel discussion include Duke law professors James Coleman and Thomas Metzloff; American University’s Washington College of Law professor Michael Tigar... and Joseph Neff, an investigative reporter with the News & Observer...

related:KC Johnson: Coleman, Neff Panel — webcast would be worth watching for those of you with computer access at 12.15.

Michael Gaynor:Duke case: Does Duke have a Broadus Mitchell? — "This case is a good sanity litmus test. Anyone who knows much about it and doesn't agree with us — right-wing, left-wing, or otherwise — is a lunatic or a scoundrel." So opined an insightful fellow who was right about the case (the Duke case) from the start and is right about it being a good sanity litmus test too, in an email to me.

By "agree with us," the insightful fellow meant appreciated, at a minimum, that (1) the gang rape claim is bogus, (2) the young men referred to as the Duke Three never should have been indicted on felony charges and (3) their prosecutor was an out-of-control opportunist who defied his duty to be a fair and impartial minister of justice...

Jeremy Weidenhof, Lone Star Times blog:Racism is Alive and Well — Racism among white people is alive and well in 2007, but it no longer manifests itself with sheets and hoods. Instead we have obsession with skin color, and absurd behavior to assuage guilty consciences. The Duke rape case is an excellent example, where so many white liberals in academe automatically believed that because the “victim” was black and the accused men were white, the story must be true despite a lack of evidence. It simply fit the template that whites abuse blacks...

Gail Heriot, The Right Coast blog:Huh? Duke University's Provost Draws Profoundly Misguided Lessons from Duke Scandal — This is awful. Provost Peter Lange evidently draws very different lessons from the Duke "rape" case than I do. To me it's about how three college kids can come within inches of having their lives ruined (and it's not over yet) all on account of wild accusations of rape that should have been (and were) recognized to be incredible from the start....Lange makes it sound like the real victims are the notorious Group of 88 Duke faculty members...

Mike, Crime & Federalism blog:Richard Brodhead: Misunderstanding the Presumption of Innocence — In a recent statement, Duke President Richard Brodhead said that his handling of the Duke lacrosse scandal has been guided by this principle: "[O]ur students had to be presumed innocent until proven guilty through the legal process." Did Richard Brodhead presume the Duke lacrosse players were innocent?

How is punishing someone before they are convicted consistent with a respect for the presumption of innocence? How is lifting that punishment only after substantial evidence of innocence is revealed consistent with a respect for the presumption of innocence?

Brodhead presumed the students guilty. It was only afer the students proved their innocence that he lifted their punishment...

Dr. Melissa Clouthier blog:Duke Rape Proves Why America and Men are Wrong (1/20) — The Duke (NON) Rape case has been nothing so much as a sociology lesson for the United States that the Duke liberal arts faculty seized on to educate us all. Lots of writers have touched on this theme--that the story was the story, the narrative of race and power and money relations in modern America all wrapped up in the gang rape of a black stripper by privileged white athletes.

The aggressive misogynist, racist young men, basking in the privilege inherent in being white and male and American in America where paternalism reigns, men are revered, women subjugated, blacks denigrated, athletes elevated and nothing is fair. That's America if you're a "realist", goes the post-modernists story. The Duke gang-rapists epitomized that story....